People slowly embracing shopping bag schemes

Research by Ipsos released today, shows that retailers are starting to win over the public in the drive to reduce the one-use of plastic bags, but still need to better communicate the full benefit of their initiatives. The public are slowly embracing the scheme, with 63 per cent now in favour of charging for plastic bags. Comparative data from March 2008 shows this in an increase of six per cent in just over 18 months. Despite this increased support, 50 per cent of shoppers still wish to have a choice in whether they use their own bags.

However, shoppers still fail to understand retailers' motives behind the scheme, with 50 per cent believing the drive is about making money, and only 43 per cent recognising that retailers donate money made from the sale of plastic bags to charity.

The Ipsos research has identified four distinct social groups with differing attitudes towards the recycling of bags - the Green Legislators, the Green Libertarians, the Convenience Users and the Sceptics.

Re-using bags is becoming widespread

The re-use habit is becoming ingrained not only in what people do, but also in how they think and feel - at least for some of the public.160 The impact on behaviour is clear: three-quarters (78 per cent) of shoppers now try to bring their own bags rather than pay for them in-store, while only 15 per cent of shoppers would prefer to pay for a plastic bag than re-use one of their own. In addition, 43 per cent of shoppers now feel guilty using free bags, and the feel-good factor is even stronger - two-thirds agree that not using free plastic bags is one of their small contributions to help the environment. .

The preference for consumer choice is again evident, in that only a third (36 per cent) of shoppers are supportive of the government banning retailers from giving away free plastic bags.

The four social groups with differing attitudes towards recycling

• The Green Legislators - forming 29% of the population, likely to be affluent and in the higher social groups and Guardian readers
• The Green Libertarians - forming 27% of the population, likely to be older and in the higher social groups who are Telegraph and Daily Mail readers
• The Convenience Users - forming 18% of the population, younger, less affluent, urban commuting males sun readers
• The Sceptics - forming 26 per cent of the population, likely to be less affluent and in the lower social groups with a small group of FT readers160

The Green Legislators and Libertarians shun the free bag

The Greens appreciate retailers giving them the opportunity to help the environment, with almost all of these groups trying to bring their own bags (96%) as well as being particularly likely to see their re-use of plastic bags as a small contribution to the environment.

Almost 70 per cent of the Legislators believe the government should impose the ban, whilst over 60 per cent of the Libertarians believe people should be given a choice. As might be expected, the Legislators are more likely to feel guilty (80 per cent) when using free plastic bags, compared to only 40 per cent of Libertarians. Retailer messaging on the environmental benefits of re-using bags could well reinforce the positive habits developing among these groups.

The Convenience Users prioritise ease over environmental concerns

The convenience of paying for a bag outweighs environmental concerns for the Convenience Users. While 70 per cent of this group support retailers charging for bags, six in ten still prefer to pay for their bags rather than re-using bags. The Convenience Users will be a hard group to persuade to carry their own bags - while some retailers are opting to remove the free bags from display at the till or offering loyalty points for those who use their own bags, perhaps even more attractive incentives would be needed to change their behaviour. In the meantime, clarifying the destination of their donations for bags may give the Convenience Users more of a feel-good factor.

The Sceptics continue to reject plastic bag reduction

The Sceptics seem resistant to the whole concept of bag re-use.160 Among this group, only eight per cent feel guilty when using plastic bags, and they are also suspicious of retailers' motives - 83 per cent believe that retailers make money from charging for bags. For retailers targeting this group, more communication is essential, as they fail to understand any of the scheme's benefits and it could be actively damaging retailer reputations.

The full environmental benefit is not being communicated

Amongst all groups there is only minority knowledge that any retailer donates money paid for plastic bags to environmental charities (among the public as a whole, four in ten agree this is the case).

Retailers have taken different approaches to how they distribute the cost savings from the lower take-up of bags or revenue from sales. If there were greater clarity about the beneficiaries of these schemes, public attitudes towards the scheme might be further improved.

Commenting on the survey, Mark Kingsbury, Head of Marketing at Ipsos said:160

"Retailers are doing a great job in leading the way by helping shoppers make little differences through the reduction in one-use plastic bags. They now need to focus on communicating the full benefits of the scheme more clearly to shoppers. If they are able to do this successfully, we may see even better statistics in the future, with more Greens and fewer Sceptics."

About Ipsos

Ipsos Shopper and Retail is a specialist division within Ipsos and specialises in helping manufacturers and retailers to better understand shoppers.

The Ipsos Reputation Centre is our specialist team working with clients to help them manage their corporate reputation and strengthen the stakeholder relationships that matter most to them.160

Ipsos is one of the largest, and best known research companies in the UK and a key part of the Ipsos Group, a leading global research company. With a direct presence in over 60 countries our clients benefit from specialist knowledge drawn from our five global practices: public affairs research, advertising testing and tracking, media evaluation, marketing research and consultancy, customer satisfaction and loyalty.